Source: Athens County Board of Elections

Federal Hocking School Board decided Tuesday against putting a 6-mill operating levy to a public vote, superintendent James Patsey said.

He estimated that such a levy could have collected about $600,000.

The school district has not passed an operating levy since 1978, according to the Athens County Board of Elections.

Patsey attributes that fact to voters in the eastern part of the district who he said oppose all tax levies.

Another problem with passing a levy is that the district would lose state aid given to districts whose local tax revenues do not equal the district’s costs, according to the Ohio School Boards Association.

Federal Hocking’s annual $340,000 in that type of aid would be phased out over a four-year period if the district passes an operating levy or extra income tax, Patsey said.

Several local school superintendents said their districts struggle to pass levies because taxpayers are overtaxed for money that should come from state funds.

Passing levies is difficult for Trimble Local School District because many taxpayers are losing their jobs, superintendent Cindy Johnston said. The district has cut costs by other means, such as not replacing retired teachers.

Trimble passed an income tax levy in 1992 but has not passed an operating levy since 1966, according to the Board of Elections.

Trimble is operating on “bare bones” and could use more funds to fix gym ceiling leaks and buy new school buses because the current buses each have more than 100,000 miles on them, Johnston said.

School districts are too reliant on tax levies to fund basic school operations that local taxpayers cannot afford, said Ted Bayat, superintendent for Nelsonville-York School District.

“If you have to choose between paying for school fees or feeding your family, which one would you choose?” he asked.

Although Nelsonville-York passed a bond issue for school renovations in 2004, the most recent levy the schools have passed was in 1982, according to the Board of Elections.

Bayat said funding school districts based on property values is unfair. A 1-mill tax levy in Dublin might collect $250,000, but a 10- or 12-mill levy would be necessary to collect the same amount in Athens, he said.

Alexander Local School District passed a bond issue in 2000, but a school operations levy has not been passed since 1991, according to the Board of Elections.

The school has tried to live within its means because Alexander taxpayers cannot afford to pay any more property tax, superintendent Robert Bray said.

“There are few things people will vote for,” he said.

State Sen. Joy Padgett, R-Coshocton, said school districts and the state government have a shared responsibility for the financial stability of Ohio school districts.

Padgett said school districts should not blame state legislators for their financial debt.

However, Athens City School District requires local support to fund schools because the state aid does not meet the district’s needs, superintendent, Carl Martin said.

Athens schools passed a 1 percent income tax in November and a 2.9-mill permanent replacement levy this past May, according to the Board of Elections.

Martin said Athens taxpayers have been supportive in the past. The district has passed 87 percent of its 31 ballot initiatives since 1964, according to the Board of Elections.